


will you wait for me there

by ashellthatsings



Category: Runaways (Comics), Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, brief mention of pain meds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-12
Updated: 2018-02-12
Packaged: 2019-03-17 10:40:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13657323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashellthatsings/pseuds/ashellthatsings
Summary: Chase breaks his arm, and it's (not) Gert's fault.





	will you wait for me there

He’d broken his arm.  It wasn’t serious, nothing he couldn’t handle, nothing he hadn’t had before.  But Gert-

They’d gone to a grocery store in hopes of getting some fresher food, some vegetables, something.  Chase and Gert had gone in together, both wearing disguises, and the rest of the group waited in the car.  But somebody had recognized Chase, and had taken Gert aside to warn her about what kind of a person he was,  which had worried him, and then he’d pulled Gert away and the lady talking to Gert had apparently known kung fu or something…

She’d broken his arm, and it had taken some time to get away, but they had, and they’d made it to the Hostel without any tails or any extra danger, but the whole time Karolina had driven around making sure no one was following them, Gert had watched him, eyes wide, as he cradled his arm and winced at every bump in the road.   By the time they’d gotten back to the safety of the Hostel, his face had been sheet white, and he stumbled a little getting out of the van.  

“I’m fine, Gert,” he said to her as she hovered around him.  Nico used her staff to set the bone, and from there Chase wrapped the arm himself.  Gert handed him a sling she’d made out of two of Molly’s bandanas, and helped him tie it.  Her fingers brushed against his neck, and it had to have been deliberate, because Gert doesn’t do anything by halves or by accident. 

But Molly was handing him an ice pack, and Karolina was putting together some sort of terrifying looking healing protein shake that Chase definitely didn’t want to drink, and Alex was googling potential free clinics they could go to that were on the down low, so he couldn’t do anything, say anything to Gert.  

And after Karolina had pressed the shake into his hands, and Molly had adjusted the ice pack to where it would stay in the sling, and Alex had shook his head and said that there wasn’t anywhere he could go, he ended up laying on the couch while Molly fixed the DVD player to start playing one of the movies she and Karolina had gotten at the gas station.  “She’s a worrier,” Molly said, as she sat down next to Chase.  “She likes you too, so it’s confusing. Because you know, if she does anything to show that, she’s worried you’ll make fun of her.”

“I wouldn’t,” he said, and Molly shrugged. 

“I know.  I think she knows too, but again, she’s a worrier.”  

Molly stopped talking then, because Gert had come back with the remains of their first aid kit and a glass of water for him to take a few ibuprofen.  

“How are you feeling?”  she asked, sitting beside him.  

“Fine,” he said, and she frowned at him.  

“Your arm was broken and then set with magic, you’re not fine.  Take these.” Gert said, and Chase did, and her hands fluttered in her lap until Chase handed her the ibuprofen bottle back.  

“Thanks.  I’m really okay, Gert.”

She clenched her jaw, and then nodded.  “Okay.  Let me know if you need anything.” She moved to get up and go somewhere else, but Chase reached over with his unharmed hand to grab hers.  

“Stay,” he said softly, and she nodded after a brief hesitation.  And when the meds kicked in and he could think clearly, he reached to take Gert’s hand.  And then when he’d relaxed enough from the medicine, and the adrenaline from running with a broken arm had worn off, he found himself falling asleep, leaning towards Gert.  

When he woke up, the lights were off, and someone had put a blanket on him.  Gert was leaning against him, asleep like he was.  His arm was hurting, but instead of thinking about it, he focused on the feeling of Gert’s hand in his.  Molly was standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame and laughing at them.  “You’ve been asleep for almost three hours,” she said when she noticed Chase being awake.  “Made it through almost thirty minutes of the movie. “  

“Sorry,” he said, but Molly shook her head.  

“You being asleep helped her to calm down.  So thanks.  There’s dinner in the kitchen if you want some.  And uh, Nico found some really high strength painkillers from when she got her wisdom teeth out if you want that.” 

Chase laughed quietly, careful not to wake Gert, but in the end it was futile.  And with sleepiness dulling the edge of Gert’s thoughts, he couldn’t help but smooth the hair back from her face.  “Dinner’s ready, honey,” he said, the pet name showing up without him thinking about it.  She hummed in acknowledgement and blinked slowly. 

“Did you call me honey?” she asked in an almost whisper, so that Molly couldn’t hear.  He nodded, and she blinked again.  

“I didn’t hate it,” she said, still so softly, and she reached to adjust his sling to make sure it wouldn’t fall.  

Molly held focus during dinner, with her plans for multiple possible excursions which none of the older Runaways could bring themselves to veto.  After they’d eaten, and Alex had gone over what they needed to do the next day, they’d all scattered, and Chase had taken pain meds and ended up drowsy and dozing on the couch.  

His eyes were half open, and he kept blinking at the TV’s blank face, as if he kept forgetting that he hadn’t turned it on.  It was Gert’s turn to do laundry, and she’d brought the clean stuff to the living room to fold and keep an eye on Chase.  

Of course, when she’d planned to do this, she hadn’t counted on him being drowsily talkative.  

“I dig these drugs, babe.  They’re real nice.” 

She sighed and smiled at him. “I’m sure they are.  Don’t get used to them.”

It took a moment, but he smiled at her, a dumb drowsy smile that made him look younger, and reminded her of the smiles he used to give her across the room when they were younger, when he thought she wasn’t really looking.  

“You’re so pretty,” he said after a second, still staring at her.  

“Thanks, Chase.”  

“So pretty.”  

“You’re pretty too, Chase.”  

That got Chase to grin at her, and blink his eyes wide open.  “Thanks, babe,” he said with real happiness in his voice.  And when she nodded, she couldn’t help but smile.  

“You know what?” he said after a pause, his voice gone introspective.  “I don’t want that night to be a one time thing.  Is that bad to say?”

Gert stopped folding his socks, and looked at him.  “No, that’s not bad to say.  You can say anything you want, Chase.”

“I don’t want you to freak out.”

She looked down at the socks.  “I won’t freak out,” she said after a moment’s pause.  And when she handed him his socks, he pulled them on and smiled.  

“Warm socks are nice,” he said, and she couldn’t help but think that he knew she was uncomfortable and was changing the subject.  

“I’m going to bed,” he said after a second.  “As nice as the drugs are, I’d rather just sleep while I can’t feel my arm.”  

“Okay.  Do you uh, need help with your pajamas?  Because I can get Alex.”

Chase shook his head slowly, and stood up.  “I’ll be fine.  Worst case, I’ll just wear this shirt again, I guess.”

“I’ll come with you.  Just in case. I already got your arm broken, don’t want it to get worse.”  

That was when Chase stopped where he was walking away, and turned to place a hand on her shoulder carefully.  “It wasn’t your fault.”

Gert didn’t make eye contact with him, just picked some lint off of the hem of his shirt.  “I know.”  

“There’s a lot of fuzz in my brain right now, which is keeping me from doing math or figuring out what time it is, but it wasn’t your fault, Gert.  I know that.  That lady would have recognised me no matter what.”  

She nodded, and walked carefully behind him until he got to his room and flopped onto the bed.  “Gert, I think I’ll sleep till our parents are dead.  How’s that sound?” he said, voice muffled by the bed. She smiled fondly at him, bolstered by the fact that he couldn’t see her. 

“At least change out of your jeans,” she said, and she dug through his drawers to find pajama pants, which she then set down beside him, and after a second of panic, she kissed his cheek.  

“Let me know if you need anything,” she said as she left, noting Chase’s smile and saving it for analysis later. 

He was fine, for now.  They were fine, for now.  

**Author's Note:**

> i remain, yr obt svt,
> 
> AShellThatSings, Runaways Trash


End file.
